install linux (i prefer debian stable, but that's just me)
closed all uncessary ports
that's usually a function of your router, but linux can also be used for routing functions using an iptables script... here's an example that you can execute from/etc/rc.local (on a debian machine anyway):
#!/bin/bash echo -n "Loading iptables firewall..." iptables -F iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT iptables -P FORWARD DROP iptables -P INPUT DROP iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT iptables -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT iptables -A INPUT -j DROP echo "done." exit 0
not the most locked down firewall that you can make with iptables, but its probably a similar configuration to what you would find in most off-the-shelf routers by default. you only need to add more exceptions if you run servers of sorts (ports 80 and 443 for httpd, 25 and 110 for mail, 53 for dns, etc). you can also nat between networks with iptables.
edit/etc/hosts.deny and make the only non-commented line ALL:ALL, and make sure there is nothing (except comments) in/etc/hosts.allow
also be sure to configure all users except human users and root so that shell is/bin/false in/etc/passwd and/etc/passwd-
also, don't install any programs from sources other than official repositories (except for things like flash from adobe website) and don't install garbage apps and avoid torrrent clients which are a breeding ground for malware for all operating systems. i tend to favor stable repositories (with auto security repos update), with many vulnerabilities being due to inadequately tested updates. despite the hype, the testing aspects of both waterfall and extreme programming methodologies are rarely followed in open source projects, with the most common being the "code and test" or (derogative) "cowboy coding" methodology.
also, to protect your wifi network(s), only use wpa2 (don't use wep) and set up an access list so that only registered mac addresses will be able to connect
always use https for online banking and make sure the top and 2nd level domains are what you expect (most modern browsers highlight them)
some of this stuff is less to do with asio and more to do with security in general. no doubt other/. users will chime in if i've said something wrong or if i've missed something obvious. there's also other security things like wheel group, and there are hardening tutorials for most major distros out there. debian has a good one here: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/ but for controlling remote access, the best way is to harden your browser settings (uninstall/disable any unneccesary plugins, disable java, etc), tighten up your wifi security and make sure no router ports are open
the internet is a scary place, but most viruses and malware is unintentionally installed by users from a web browser or email client (in windows). hacking is a problem, but its only serious if you're hosting. look up how a router works and that may help cool some of your fears. grc has a good info page here: http://www.grc.com/nat/nat.htm summary: think of a nat router as sort of being like a one-way valve, so you can make requests out but only responses to your requests can come back in (ininvited requests are dropped) if your computer is part of a botnet, there's a good chance that you unintentionally installed software from your web browser or email (or junkware/shareware) that caused it. malware rarely if ever gets onto your pc on its own, and also having malware or virus infected files on your machine is ok as long as they aren't op
Find the nearest Equadorian embassy and request political asylum:-)
or just burn all your aussie id, hire a boat and go find a navy vessel off the north west coast
you get more government benefits as an illegal immigrant in australian detention centres than you do as an australian citizen (unless you're aboriginal or a torres strait islander, in which case you're set for life)
they are a bunch of angry welfare bums with many and varied views of the world... despite that it would be nice to think they at least change their underwear once in a while
having said that... 'people power' in the modern age is defined by protests and rallies (anyone who thinks democracy has anything to do with voting is a fool... democracy is the freedom to protest peacefully without being imprisoned or shot), so if you don't believe in them you are doomed to a life of servitude to whichever government is in power at the time anyway, so is protesting about a shitty economy any worse than simply putting up with it?
there's a really interesting youtube video where peter schiff (aka dr doom) went to ows and tried to find out what it was all about... its long, but well worth the time
as an aside i wanted to find out who australia's reserve bank was accountable, since i've been hearing the america's federal reserve is apparently accountable to nobody. from their website, the RBA is bound by the Reserve Bank Act 1959, and while the bank has certain freedoms to direct monitary policy, it must report to the treasurer and in matters of disagreement the governor general intervenes and can force the reserve to implement changes to its policy, so at least the Australian people have a some semblence of control over its currency, and the government would be unpopular to allow the RBA to go on a printing rampage and i think the governor general might be used in that case. given that our governor general is an australian and a woman (i think a little less corruptable than a man, personal opinion only), i think she would do the right thing by the people and force the RBA to pull its head in
from the fed website i couldn't find much in the way of disagreement resolution between congress and the fed other than reporting, but i did come across this gem in the fed act itself, which may prove useful to congress if push comes to shove
The congress can amend the act to restrict the functions of the fed if it chooses to. I don't know why they haven't already... i guess the fed having a printing press makes it easy for them to buy members of congress
without russia the ISS would be a floating piece of space junk (which wouldn't eventually burn up in the atmosphere)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Federal_Space_Agency "Due to International Space Station involvements, up to 50% of Russia's space budget is spent on the manned space program. Some observers have pointed out that this has a detrimental effect on other aspects of space exploration, and that the other space powers spend much lesser proportions of their overall budgets on maintaining human presence in orbit."
russian space agency budget 2012: $5.2 billion nasa budget 2012: $17.8 billion
russian success is soyuz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_program) and proton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Proton_launches) these programs are as close to mass production for spacecraft as any country has ever come, and i can only imagine that russian engineers and technicians have kept it going under pretty harsh conditions
NASA has JPL, and but even that is now mostly scientific studies
re: "not SO bad now, but I expect as you do, especially for us coders with NO UNIONS BACKING US. it will be worse shortly"
i agree that software development will be hard hit. i'm not in America but if Australia hits hard times I'm a bit more fortunate to be a professional engineer with representation by engineers australia (which is probably more of a lobby organisation, but they have a lot of clout having influence over australia standards, worksafe, minimum salaries, and inflence in the legislative process, etc... they really have too much power and are a pain to deal with actually because they are forcing the whole chartered status thing). i do programming in my job (i do get paid for programming), but its mainly development of specialist software (LAMP and some delphi) to support the engineering side of things.
re: "In today's "litigious society"? You NEED "the holy dollar" or you get NO LAW"
definitely true... but in tomorrow's mahem when the dollar collapses, it may well be 'every man for himself' and 'survival of the fittest'. you probably needn't bother with preparations unless you build a fortress, because if you prepare more than the unprepared masses, you will become a target of the unprepared masses. its probably hard to take seriously, but have you seen the "mad max" movies? or the movie "water world"? martial law will of course be declared at some point in the midst of the collapse, but that will only work as long as the government can support the soldiers (paying with commodities or land because dollars will of course be worthless). you'll probably find that little empires start to build, and the US becomes a feudal state. the idiot "new world" secret societies that think they are in control will be as surprised as the politicians at how uncivilized a country of consumers can get when there is no more left to consume. the UN might risk sending in some foreign peacekeeping troops but that won't save you. sorry this is getting really pessimistic, but as an outside observer, this kind of future for america wouldn't surprise me... that is unless obama goes crazy with his nuclear football and triggers world war 3.
re: "paying 3x what you actually have in that asset, imo is STUPID... but, some folks have no other recourse is all"
i'm one of those folks that has no other choice but to mortgage, but fortunately i didn't overextend (my mortgage payments are more than double the minimum, with a redraw facility that i use for some bills)
re: "NO man... GREAT MEN DID... selfless TRUE 'leaders'"
i agree, and there have been great political leaders, but also great corporate leaders that have spurred the US economy... henry ford, steve jobs, etc. government jobs don't build an economy... they simply take money from the taxpayer and spend it (inefficiently)... the government sector is an economic overhead in that they don't produce anything. not to say that government can't have a stake in private companies (as a shareholder)... but if the government has operational control it always fucks things up. government would have difficulty organising a fuck in a brothel. the corporate sector is efficient because it must be or it will die (except of course if tainted by government bailouts). even in the face of increased government regulation and continuous scrutiny and meddling, the corporate sector comes up with ways to stay competitive (by shifting production offshore or by evading tax with offshore shell companies). if the american labour market was as competitive as china's labor market, americans would have jobs. that seems unfair that americans should work for less pay, but your standard of living is based on debt anyway. in a balanced economy your standard of living would be lower anyway, and when the shit hits the fan your standard of living is going to plummet. most employers want to be able to pay decent salaries because people work harder when they are happy (henry ford is an example, along with google more recently).
zero income taxes, 10% goods and services taxes, and 7% interest rate
if you really want to punish the wealthy, punish their spending habits
that way the more you spend the income the government makes, and in a consumption economy like the US, the government is going to make A FUCKLOAD of income from GST alone
...the middle class (who spends less than the rich) starts to save more because they don't pay income tax
oh, and someone needs to "suicide" ben bernanke... check out this youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhrphUG68s fucking douchebag
i think we are on the same page, though i must admit i haven't figured out who i'm talking to... i don't really take much notice of what i do on slashdot... most of the time i just use it as a platform to rant (gotta love that freedom thing)
"Only way to do it? Get money"
don't bother. it won't be long till your money won't buy anything anyway. many of those rich scumbags you hate will be broke too. only those with real assets (commodities, property, etc) will be "worth" anything
your attitude seems like one of desperation and despair, but there are lots of people who are on their feet trying to make a difference, and when it comes to the crunch they have the best chance of success (obviously doing nothing won't get you anywhere)
there is a really good youtube video of peter schiff talking to protesters at the occupy wall street gathering... they share similar views but many still think the corporations are to blame so their rage is misdirected
who appear to have your head screwed on... to make sure its on tight, i hope you realise that corporations are what made your country great... allowing your government to increase in size and scope will destroy you (and it seems like you do understand)
you probably still have a job so protesting is difficult, but you have access to the internet... you have access to a phone most likely...
spread the word... help your fellow countrymen to wake up and see the writing on the wall... contact your local, state and federal representatives and let them know how you feel
it seems so hopeless but the consequences of doing nothing are so much worse than doing something... anything
even this conversation may help people reading understand, which can only be a good thing
there will likely be a bond market collapse in the near future (google "stockton bankruptsy" for starters), and when the debt ceiling is raised again soon holders of t-bonds will (hopefully) wake up and realise the government is never going to make good on them
the longer your economy prolongs the inevitable, the worse it will be in the end
cheers mate, and good luck in the coming months... you are gunna need it
i do see it (i've been listening to guys like ron paul and peter schiff... they have consistently been right, and everyone else has been consistently wrong), and you are right in describing signs and consequences of the problem (corporate campaign donations and corrupt politicans), but you are confused about the actual underlying problem itself.
if you keep thinking that the corporate sector is to blame then you will be stuck... the corporate sector isn't to blame
i repeat... capitalism is a good thing if left to work as intended
corporations should be allowed to make a profit, lobbyists should be abllowed to lobby, corrupt businesspeople should be free to run for president... these are all good things that real freedom and protection of liberty gives you... nobody should be able to judge the corruptability of a presidential candidate except voters
government intervention is a bad thing, because government isn't spending money that it has earnt, and it spends it without consideration of risk
corporations spend their money much more wisely because they have to earn it by selling things... EXCEPT when they receive government bailouts, in which case there is no risk and they can go as crazy as the government
it is impossible to stop corrupt businesspeople from running for office... barack obama seemed like a saint when he first ran for office... he said he was going to change everything, but he's not a saint and he's repeating all the same mistakes as bush, except much worse
corporations aren't your enemy.... the government is your enemy... the government is stealing your money, not the corporations when you hear reports of huge corporate profits, in most cases (where the government isn't involved in bailing them out) it is because the corporations are selling things... look at apple for instance... it is doing well because they are selling a lot of ithings... don't hate them because they are selling stuff apple's customers aren't forced to buy apple products... they do so by choice on the other hand, the government is FORCING TAXPAYERS to buy all sorts of shit that they can't afford, and by printing money, the fed is stealing money off you buy devaluing your currency don't bother looking at the stockmarket or housing prices to see if the economy is doing well... look at how much it costs for a loaf of bread... when was the last time the cost of a loaf of bread went down? your dollar is buying you less with each passing day. if you look at the value of the US dollar against gold (the original base used up to 1971, the value has dropped significantly (the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar#Value shows it pretty starkly, and funny enough according to that table the dollar value really started dropping after the introduction of the federal reserve in 1913, but it only started dropping perpetually after 1971)
you are right that there are corrupt politicians... there have always been corrupt politicians though so you aren't making any breakthroughs there. corrupt politicans aren't the problem either. the problem is you have allowed government to become so powerful, that your corrupt politicians have lots of power to sell. take away the power of government, and there is less reason to want to bribe officials regardless of how corrupt they are.
THE SIZE OF YOUR GOVERNMENT IS YOUR PROBLEM
humans will always be human. you can't blame them for that. corporations can be corrupt, but they have always been and they are in Australia too... the difference betwee nthe US and Australia is that in Australia the politicans have less power so sell, so there is less incentives for corporations to bribe. a smaller government is a better government
i may not be living in the US, but that's good in a way because i can see the overall picture with more objectivity and clarity (i'm not affected by the consequence of bad policy as much as you)
don't believe what you see in movies, don't believe what you see on CNBC or Fox News..
the problem is that the government is still stifling competition, because they aren't really letting private companies do anything except compete for government money, which won't result in anything productive because they money will be squandered on shareholder dividends (to keep the companies profitable in an otherwise terrible economy) and building the company's capabilities (R&D)
if they government truly got out of the way and let free market capitalism work the way its designed to, the government wouldn't be offering any contracts, they would significantly reduce the size of NASA (to reduce NASA's power base and eliminate the target for corruption by the lobbying process) and the government wouldn't be telling the industry what the goal is
in a truly free market, companies sell stuff based on its marketability and profitability. if a company (say Lockheed Martin) develops a space launcher that is too expensive for customers, another company might have a chance at upping the stakes by coming up with better ideas and actually competing with Lockheed Martin. as long as Lockheed Martin is supported by government contracts, other companies can't really compete no matter how good their ideas are. if the government gives private companies money and tells them to figure it out, its still socialism because its still government money, and it won't work any better than what they have been doing because there is no risk to the private companies (Lockheed Martin or Boeing or whoever wins these government contracts) don't assume any risk so they don't care if they squander the money.
it's exactly the same problem as in the banking sector... banks that receive bailouts will never act responsibly because there is no risk if they fuck up
true capitalism (as opposed to socialism with a really good marketing department) would let Lockheed Martin pay for its fucked up X33 program rather than the taxpayer
also, the market should decide the goals... if nobody wants to pay for sending men to asteroids, then why do it? market opportunities are much more likely to increase for cheap ready access to low earth orbit, especially since there is already a market for it (but the market would explode into a boom if you could put a 500 kg satellite into LEO for say $100,000 rather than millions. much of the current cost is for insurance because of the lack of reliability of current launchers. there is also lots of government red tape. there should be safety regulations (as in the civil aviation sector) but otherwise the governmnent should just get out of the way (as in really get out of the way, not just say it)
Slashdot Mirror
install linux (i prefer debian stable, but that's just me)
closed all uncessary ports
that's usually a function of your router, but linux can also be used for routing functions using an iptables script... here's an example that you can execute from /etc/rc.local (on a debian machine anyway):
#!/bin/bash
echo -n "Loading iptables firewall..."
iptables -F
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD DROP
iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -j DROP
echo "done."
exit 0
not the most locked down firewall that you can make with iptables, but its probably a similar configuration to what you would find in most off-the-shelf routers by default. you only need to add more exceptions if you run servers of sorts (ports 80 and 443 for httpd, 25 and 110 for mail, 53 for dns, etc). you can also nat between networks with iptables.
edit /etc/hosts.deny and make the only non-commented line ALL:ALL, and make sure there is nothing (except comments) in /etc/hosts.allow
also be sure to configure all users except human users and root so that shell is /bin/false in /etc/passwd and /etc/passwd-
also, don't install any programs from sources other than official repositories (except for things like flash from adobe website) and don't install garbage apps and avoid torrrent clients which are a breeding ground for malware for all operating systems. i tend to favor stable repositories (with auto security repos update), with many vulnerabilities being due to inadequately tested updates. despite the hype, the testing aspects of both waterfall and extreme programming methodologies are rarely followed in open source projects, with the most common being the "code and test" or (derogative) "cowboy coding" methodology.
use shields up @ https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 to verify if you have any exposed ports
also, to protect your wifi network(s), only use wpa2 (don't use wep) and set up an access list so that only registered mac addresses will be able to connect
always use https for online banking and make sure the top and 2nd level domains are what you expect (most modern browsers highlight them)
some of this stuff is less to do with asio and more to do with security in general. no doubt other /. users will chime in if i've said something wrong or if i've missed something obvious. there's also other security things like wheel group, and there are hardening tutorials for most major distros out there. debian has a good one here: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/ but for controlling remote access, the best way is to harden your browser settings (uninstall/disable any unneccesary plugins, disable java, etc), tighten up your wifi security and make sure no router ports are open
the internet is a scary place, but most viruses and malware is unintentionally installed by users from a web browser or email client (in windows). hacking is a problem, but its only serious if you're hosting. look up how a router works and that may help cool some of your fears. grc has a good info page here: http://www.grc.com/nat/nat.htm
summary: think of a nat router as sort of being like a one-way valve, so you can make requests out but only responses to your requests can come back in (ininvited requests are dropped)
if your computer is part of a botnet, there's a good chance that you unintentionally installed software from your web browser or email (or junkware/shareware) that caused it. malware rarely if ever gets onto your pc on its own, and also having malware or virus infected files on your machine is ok as long as they aren't op
don't use windows as your os for starters
Find the nearest Equadorian embassy and request political asylum :-)
or just burn all your aussie id, hire a boat and go find a navy vessel off the north west coast
you get more government benefits as an illegal immigrant in australian detention centres than you do as an australian citizen (unless you're aboriginal or a torres strait islander, in which case you're set for life)
i doubt much of the australian government has any idea who they are even dealing with
its a pity that america is more socialist than china
pretty soon you'll all be building fallout shelters to hide from your own government
if i were american i would have voted for ron paul
now without him (even in congress since he's now retired) you're all fucked
i looked it up and apparently it's the opposite of right, but don't quote me
they are a bunch of angry welfare bums with many and varied views of the world... despite that it would be nice to think they at least change their underwear once in a while
having said that... 'people power' in the modern age is defined by protests and rallies (anyone who thinks democracy has anything to do with voting is a fool... democracy is the freedom to protest peacefully without being imprisoned or shot), so if you don't believe in them you are doomed to a life of servitude to whichever government is in power at the time anyway, so is protesting about a shitty economy any worse than simply putting up with it?
there's a really interesting youtube video where peter schiff (aka dr doom) went to ows and tried to find out what it was all about... its long, but well worth the time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahMGoB01qiA
a female slashdotter... that would be priceless
another easy test: if she sees porridge lick marks on the windows, time to bail out
how to confuse a philosopher: ask them which way is up
sounds like he just wanted the imac... terrible son maybe, but not stupid
or you could just remove her falsies
re: "(which wouldn't eventually burn up in the atmosphere)"
haha i mean would
as an aside i wanted to find out who australia's reserve bank was accountable, since i've been hearing the america's federal reserve is apparently accountable to nobody. from their website, the RBA is bound by the Reserve Bank Act 1959, and while the bank has certain freedoms to direct monitary policy, it must report to the treasurer and in matters of disagreement the governor general intervenes and can force the reserve to implement changes to its policy, so at least the Australian people have a some semblence of control over its currency, and the government would be unpopular to allow the RBA to go on a printing rampage and i think the governor general might be used in that case. given that our governor general is an australian and a woman (i think a little less corruptable than a man, personal opinion only), i think she would do the right thing by the people and force the RBA to pull its head in
http://www.rba.gov.au/about-rba/accountability.html#consultation_with_government
from the fed website i couldn't find much in the way of disagreement resolution between congress and the fed other than reporting, but i did come across this gem in the fed act itself, which may prove useful to congress if push comes to shove
http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section31.htm
The congress can amend the act to restrict the functions of the fed if it chooses to. I don't know why they haven't already... i guess the fed having a printing press makes it easy for them to buy members of congress
without russia the ISS would be a floating piece of space junk (which wouldn't eventually burn up in the atmosphere)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Federal_Space_Agency
"Due to International Space Station involvements, up to 50% of Russia's space budget is spent on the manned space program. Some observers have pointed out that this has a detrimental effect on other aspects of space exploration, and that the other space powers spend much lesser proportions of their overall budgets on maintaining human presence in orbit."
russian space agency budget 2012: $5.2 billion
nasa budget 2012: $17.8 billion
russian success is soyuz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_program) and proton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Proton_launches)
these programs are as close to mass production for spacecraft as any country has ever come, and i can only imagine that russian engineers and technicians have kept it going under pretty harsh conditions
NASA has JPL, and but even that is now mostly scientific studies
well i must admit i'm surprised... apk
re: "not SO bad now, but I expect as you do, especially for us coders with NO UNIONS BACKING US. it will be worse shortly"
i agree that software development will be hard hit. i'm not in America but if Australia hits hard times I'm a bit more fortunate to be a professional engineer with representation by engineers australia (which is probably more of a lobby organisation, but they have a lot of clout having influence over australia standards, worksafe, minimum salaries, and inflence in the legislative process, etc... they really have too much power and are a pain to deal with actually because they are forcing the whole chartered status thing). i do programming in my job (i do get paid for programming), but its mainly development of specialist software (LAMP and some delphi) to support the engineering side of things.
re: "In today's "litigious society"? You NEED "the holy dollar" or you get NO LAW"
definitely true... but in tomorrow's mahem when the dollar collapses, it may well be 'every man for himself' and 'survival of the fittest'. you probably needn't bother with preparations unless you build a fortress, because if you prepare more than the unprepared masses, you will become a target of the unprepared masses. its probably hard to take seriously, but have you seen the "mad max" movies? or the movie "water world"? martial law will of course be declared at some point in the midst of the collapse, but that will only work as long as the government can support the soldiers (paying with commodities or land because dollars will of course be worthless). you'll probably find that little empires start to build, and the US becomes a feudal state. the idiot "new world" secret societies that think they are in control will be as surprised as the politicians at how uncivilized a country of consumers can get when there is no more left to consume. the UN might risk sending in some foreign peacekeeping troops but that won't save you. sorry this is getting really pessimistic, but as an outside observer, this kind of future for america wouldn't surprise me... that is unless obama goes crazy with his nuclear football and triggers world war 3.
re: "paying 3x what you actually have in that asset, imo is STUPID... but, some folks have no other recourse is all"
i'm one of those folks that has no other choice but to mortgage, but fortunately i didn't overextend (my mortgage payments are more than double the minimum, with a redraw facility that i use for some bills)
re: "NO man... GREAT MEN DID... selfless TRUE 'leaders'"
i agree, and there have been great political leaders, but also great corporate leaders that have spurred the US economy... henry ford, steve jobs, etc. government jobs don't build an economy... they simply take money from the taxpayer and spend it (inefficiently)... the government sector is an economic overhead in that they don't produce anything. not to say that government can't have a stake in private companies (as a shareholder)... but if the government has operational control it always fucks things up. government would have difficulty organising a fuck in a brothel. the corporate sector is efficient because it must be or it will die (except of course if tainted by government bailouts). even in the face of increased government regulation and continuous scrutiny and meddling, the corporate sector comes up with ways to stay competitive (by shifting production offshore or by evading tax with offshore shell companies). if the american labour market was as competitive as china's labor market, americans would have jobs. that seems unfair that americans should work for less pay, but your standard of living is based on debt anyway. in a balanced economy your standard of living would be lower anyway, and when the shit hits the fan your standard of living is going to plummet. most employers want to be able to pay decent salaries because people work harder when they are happy (henry ford is an example, along with google more recently).
zero income taxes, 10% goods and services taxes, and 7% interest rate
if you really want to punish the wealthy, punish their spending habits
that way the more you spend the income the government makes, and in a consumption economy like the US, the government is going to make A FUCKLOAD of income from GST alone
...the middle class (who spends less than the rich) starts to save more because they don't pay income tax
oh, and someone needs to "suicide" ben bernanke... check out this youtube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhrphUG68s
fucking douchebag
i think we are on the same page, though i must admit i haven't figured out who i'm talking to... i don't really take much notice of what i do on slashdot... most of the time i just use it as a platform to rant (gotta love that freedom thing)
"Only way to do it? Get money"
don't bother. it won't be long till your money won't buy anything anyway. many of those rich scumbags you hate will be broke too. only those with real assets (commodities, property, etc) will be "worth" anything
your attitude seems like one of desperation and despair, but there are lots of people who are on their feet trying to make a difference, and when it comes to the crunch they have the best chance of success (obviously doing nothing won't get you anywhere)
there is a really good youtube video of peter schiff talking to protesters at the occupy wall street gathering... they share similar views but many still think the corporations are to blame so their rage is misdirected
who appear to have your head screwed on... to make sure its on tight, i hope you realise that corporations are what made your country great... allowing your government to increase in size and scope will destroy you (and it seems like you do understand)
you probably still have a job so protesting is difficult, but you have access to the internet... you have access to a phone most likely...
spread the word... help your fellow countrymen to wake up and see the writing on the wall... contact your local, state and federal representatives and let them know how you feel
it seems so hopeless but the consequences of doing nothing are so much worse than doing something... anything
even this conversation may help people reading understand, which can only be a good thing
there will likely be a bond market collapse in the near future (google "stockton bankruptsy" for starters), and when the debt ceiling is raised again soon holders of t-bonds will (hopefully) wake up and realise the government is never going to make good on them
the longer your economy prolongs the inevitable, the worse it will be in the end
cheers mate, and good luck in the coming months... you are gunna need it
every country is full of corruption... that's merely a consequence of them being full of humans
the difference is that even with corruption, Russia still manages to achieve things on shoestring budgets
everyone whinges about their own government, so your response isn't at all surprising, but the American economy is in much deeper shit than Russia
DISCLAIMER: I am neither Russian or American, so I see things a little more objectively
i do see it (i've been listening to guys like ron paul and peter schiff... they have consistently been right, and everyone else has been consistently wrong), and you are right in describing signs and consequences of the problem (corporate campaign donations and corrupt politicans), but you are confused about the actual underlying problem itself.
if you keep thinking that the corporate sector is to blame then you will be stuck... the corporate sector isn't to blame
i repeat... capitalism is a good thing if left to work as intended
corporations should be allowed to make a profit, lobbyists should be abllowed to lobby, corrupt businesspeople should be free to run for president... these are all good things that real freedom and protection of liberty gives you... nobody should be able to judge the corruptability of a presidential candidate except voters
government intervention is a bad thing, because government isn't spending money that it has earnt, and it spends it without consideration of risk
corporations spend their money much more wisely because they have to earn it by selling things... EXCEPT when they receive government bailouts, in which case there is no risk and they can go as crazy as the government
it is impossible to stop corrupt businesspeople from running for office... barack obama seemed like a saint when he first ran for office... he said he was going to change everything, but he's not a saint and he's repeating all the same mistakes as bush, except much worse
corporations aren't your enemy.... the government is your enemy... the government is stealing your money, not the corporations
when you hear reports of huge corporate profits, in most cases (where the government isn't involved in bailing them out) it is because the corporations are selling things... look at apple for instance... it is doing well because they are selling a lot of ithings... don't hate them because they are selling stuff
apple's customers aren't forced to buy apple products... they do so by choice
on the other hand, the government is FORCING TAXPAYERS to buy all sorts of shit that they can't afford, and by printing money, the fed is stealing money off you buy devaluing your currency
don't bother looking at the stockmarket or housing prices to see if the economy is doing well... look at how much it costs for a loaf of bread... when was the last time the cost of a loaf of bread went down? your dollar is buying you less with each passing day. if you look at the value of the US dollar against gold (the original base used up to 1971, the value has dropped significantly (the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar#Value shows it pretty starkly, and funny enough according to that table the dollar value really started dropping after the introduction of the federal reserve in 1913, but it only started dropping perpetually after 1971)
you are right that there are corrupt politicians... there have always been corrupt politicians though so you aren't making any breakthroughs there. corrupt politicans aren't the problem either. the problem is you have allowed government to become so powerful, that your corrupt politicians have lots of power to sell. take away the power of government, and there is less reason to want to bribe officials regardless of how corrupt they are.
THE SIZE OF YOUR GOVERNMENT IS YOUR PROBLEM
humans will always be human. you can't blame them for that. corporations can be corrupt, but they have always been and they are in Australia too... the difference betwee nthe US and Australia is that in Australia the politicans have less power so sell, so there is less incentives for corporations to bribe. a smaller government is a better government
i may not be living in the US, but that's good in a way because i can see the overall picture with more objectivity and clarity (i'm not affected by the consequence of bad policy as much as you)
don't believe what you see in movies, don't believe what you see on CNBC or Fox News..
the problem is that the government is still stifling competition, because they aren't really letting private companies do anything except compete for government money, which won't result in anything productive because they money will be squandered on shareholder dividends (to keep the companies profitable in an otherwise terrible economy) and building the company's capabilities (R&D)
if they government truly got out of the way and let free market capitalism work the way its designed to, the government wouldn't be offering any contracts, they would significantly reduce the size of NASA (to reduce NASA's power base and eliminate the target for corruption by the lobbying process) and the government wouldn't be telling the industry what the goal is
in a truly free market, companies sell stuff based on its marketability and profitability. if a company (say Lockheed Martin) develops a space launcher that is too expensive for customers, another company might have a chance at upping the stakes by coming up with better ideas and actually competing with Lockheed Martin.
as long as Lockheed Martin is supported by government contracts, other companies can't really compete no matter how good their ideas are.
if the government gives private companies money and tells them to figure it out, its still socialism because its still government money, and it won't work any better than what they have been doing because there is no risk to the private companies (Lockheed Martin or Boeing or whoever wins these government contracts) don't assume any risk so they don't care if they squander the money.
it's exactly the same problem as in the banking sector... banks that receive bailouts will never act responsibly because there is no risk if they fuck up
true capitalism (as opposed to socialism with a really good marketing department) would let Lockheed Martin pay for its fucked up X33 program rather than the taxpayer
also, the market should decide the goals... if nobody wants to pay for sending men to asteroids, then why do it?
market opportunities are much more likely to increase for cheap ready access to low earth orbit, especially since there is already a market for it (but the market would explode into a boom if you could put a 500 kg satellite into LEO for say $100,000 rather than millions. much of the current cost is for insurance because of the lack of reliability of current launchers. there is also lots of government red tape. there should be safety regulations (as in the civil aviation sector) but otherwise the governmnent should just get out of the way (as in really get out of the way, not just say it)
maybe they found nazis on the dark side of the moon?
...or americans
You're getting confused with NASA.
Russia actually builds stuff that goes to space.
NASA is guilty of feeding an enormous bureaucracy full of academic studies, failed projects and priority backflips.
Q: What do you think $69 billion would get you in NASA?
A: Budget complaints, and not much else.
at the "stroke" of midnight
no html tags. its a setting so that i don't need html tags. i got fed up with the endless <br> bullshit in the normal setting
personally i like monospace... more geeky, and from my programming experience i'm used to it
i'm sorry it hurts your brain though